Days later, Autumn Pasquale’s body was found stuffed in a recycling bin within a mile of her Clayton home.

“I will never stop grieving because I will never stop loving and missing her,” he told a packed Woodbury courtroom Thursday at an emotional sentencing hearing for her admitted killer, 16-year-old Justin Robinson.

Robinson was sentenced to 17 years in prison for fatally strangling the girl Oct. 20 in the basement of his home, a few blocks from Pasquale’s. He pleaded guilty last month to aggravated manslaughter.

Robinson must serve 14 years and five months before parole eligibility. He also was sentenced to five years of supervision after his release.

Autumn’s family and supporters — both in the courtroom and outside — called for a tougher sentence than the plea deal recommendation ultimately deemed appropriate by Superior Court Judge Walter Marshall.

She called the sentence “a gift the defendant does not deserve” and said she hopes Robinson will be haunted by the memory of her daughter for the rest of his life.

“Although 17 years is not the longest sentence, it’s a sentence that brings closure and reflects the strengths and weaknesses of this case,” Cornwell’s attorney, Jamie Kaigh, said outside the courthouse.

Robinson admitted his guilt last month at a closed-door court hearing, where he was voluntarily waived from juvenile to adult court by Marshall.

Robinson told authorities he invited the girl to his East Clayton Avenue home so he could work on her BMX bike and potentially exchange parts, according to Camden County Prosecutor Warren Faulk.

The case was transferred to Faulk’s office due to a conflict of interest for the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.

Authorities say the teenager admitted he strangled Autumn in his basement, but have yet to give a motive for the killing. He claimed sole responsibility for her death.

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Autumn was reported missing that night by her family, setting off a massive search.

“These were the darkest days of my life,” Anthony Pasquale said. “Days and nights of not knowing where my child was.”

For more than 50 hours, law enforcement officers and community volunteers looked for the pony-tailed girl, remembered as a bicycle-riding daredevil, soccer player and good student.

Autumn’s body was found the next day in a recycling container near Robinson’s residence.

Mary Pasquale, Autumn’s grandmother, said when she sees the blue bins outside, she thinks about how the girl’s life was “discarded like a piece of trash.”

“I would’ve died for her,” she told the court.

The grim discovery was made a few blocks from where a tearful candlelight vigil had been held just hours before. Autumn’s family contends Robinson attended the vigil, a claim his mother denied in court.

“My Justin is not a monster,” Anita Saunders said, saying no one knows exactly what happened that day.

Defense attorney Jean Faulkner called the strangling a “learned behavior,” pointing out Robinson had suffered physical abuse and witnessed domestic violence for years.

Facing the front of the courtroom for nearly all of the two-hour hearing, Robinson appeared stoic and spoke briefly.

“I’m sorry. I never meant for any of this to happen,” he said.

Faulkner said reports show Robinson has a low IQ and intellectual disabilities.

Robinson was a former student of Mary Pasquale, who did not address his limitations in her statement. Rather, she said she would never teach again and had to give up her lifelong passion because she would be suspicious of every student.

Prosecutors have previously noted Robinson’s “diminished capacity” could have been cited as a mitigating factor at a waiver hearing. At a news conference last month, Faulk said proving Robinson’s guilt in court without his admission would have been difficult.

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“There was plenty of forensic evidence to indicate that she was present in the house, that she died in the house,” Faulk said of Autumn.

“But there was very limited forensic evidence with regard to who the killer was and none of it was significant enough to point the finger at any one individual.”

Faulk also had noted Justin Robinson, who was 15 when the crime occurred, might have spent less time in jail if tried as a juvenile. The maximum sentence for a juvenile offender would be 20 years, with parole eligibility after seven years.

Marshall pointed out that if the terms of the plea were not accepted, the case would return to juvenile court.

Robinson’s brother, 17-year-old Dante, also has been charged in Autumn’s slaying. Charges against him are pending in juvenile court in Gloucester County.

The brothers were home alone when the slaying occurred, authorities said.

The prosecutor’s office declined to discuss the case against Dante Robinson. Faulk previously said Justin Robinson was under oath when he claimed responsibility and the prosecutor accepted the teen at his word.

“Will there be closure for our clients emotionally, mentally and for their family? That’s doubtful,” Doug Long, the attorney for the girl’s father, said outside the courthouse.

“But at least the legal closure has taken place and we’re thankful for that.”

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